Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has expressed surprise over the pitch at Newlands on which the fourth innings was being played at the end of day two.At stumps South Africa were at 36 for 2 needing 125 more to win. With day three certain to produce a result, Woolmer agreed South Africa were favourites but he insisted Pakistan would certainly be trying. “We would be stupid to come here tomorrow thinking we had lost the game.”On the first day Pakistan were bowled out for 157 with Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis getting four wickets each. South Africa batted for the 39 overs remaining in the day and lost five wickets.On the second day 17 wickets fell as Pakistan wrapped up the South African first innings in 14 overs and then proceeded to be bowled out for 186 inside 52 overs themselves. Graeme Smith was at the other end when Paul Harris, the nightwatchman, was trapped leg before by Danish Kaneria off the last ball of the day.”With 32 wickets in two days, it’s either extremely bad batting, wonderful bowling or something slightly wrong with the pitch,” said Woolmer. The pitch was not reported to the ICC, Woolmer said, because it hadn’t turned dangerously. He also felt that though the pitch was difficult Pakistan had batted poorly in the second innings.”The odd ball is unplayable and then you get out trying to score runs off a ball that is pretty mediocre. You don’t often get these games. Specifically in Test cricket you shouldn’t get these games because in Test cricket you should be more disciplined in the way you bat.”Woolmer said that though he was an advocate of results in Test cricket he understood that financial implications were high when there was no cricket for two-and-a-half days.Dale Steyn, the South African fast bowler, was optimistic about South Africa’s chances of winning the series. “All we need tomorrow is one or two semi-partnerships and one decent partnerships and we should wrap it up soon after lunch.”

Indian cricketers’ annual contracts, which were scheduled to be finalised by the end of September, have been further delayed and will now be signed when the players return to India after the World Cup.Niranjan Shah, honorary secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said in Mumbai that the decision to postpone the signing of the contracts with the top players, up to 20, was agreed upon during a meeting with captain Rahul Dravid.”After a meeting between the board officials and Dravid, it was mutually agreed that the players’ contract would be implemented after the return of the team from World Cup,” Shah said in a short statement. “At the meeting the draft agreement was discussed in detail and the views of the board and players were also exchanged.”The final draft of the BCCI players’ contracts was to be ready in mid-January. The board was to then pass on the draft to individual players. Players are likely to receive a flat fee for each Test and one-day international, and a bonus if the team wins. There will not be rewards for individual performances – runs scored or wickets taken.

Billy Doctrove is looking back on his first 12 months as a member of the ICC’s elite panel of umpires as a year of achievement.Doctrove, 51, came under the microscope in August for his involvement with Australian umpire Darrell Hair in a Test match at The Oval in London when Pakistan were penalised for ball-tampering.It was the one negative in what Doctrove considers to be a year of many positives. “It has been a very interesting first year, very challenging, but I can look back at it and say that I’ve been very satisfied with my performances,” he told Sunsport yesterday prior to the start of the third day of the Carib Beer Challenge Final at Guaracara Park.”I’ve done very well. The reports from the captains and the match referees have been good.”After the Oval Test in which Pakistan refused to continue, and which was subsequently awarded to England, Hair was relieved of his duties on the elite panel and Doctrove wasn’t among the eight umpires selected for the ICC Champions Trophy in October and November.Since then, however, he has resumed duties in the middle. “A lot of attention was placed on me with the Oval Test match. Although it was a negative at the time, I look back at it as a learning experience.”I learnt a lot from that episode both personally and professionally. I’ve become not only a better umpire, but a better person. I’ve learnt about myself, about how to react under different situations.”As far as he is concerned, the Oval script is a closed chapter. “I’m generally a positive person and any negative thing that comes my way, I always try to turn it into a positive,” he said.”That’s what I’m doing with this one and I’m hoping that it is history, as far as I’m concerned. You never know when those things can come back up, but I’m hoping it is behind me.”In his first year as an elite umpire, he stood in four Tests and 15 ODIs. While we’ve heard extensively on the Oval scenario, the positive stories have been in the background.”The players and match referees have been very complimentary about my performances,” Doctrove said. “Most of my games have been away from the West Indies. This is the first time that I’ve had that concentration of games outside of the West Indies. I’ve learnt a lot from that. There are many more plusses than minuses during my first year as an elite umpire.”He said there were instances when a player might have felt aggrieved by a decision against him, but later, that same player would come to him and tell him he got it right.”You always get those things. You get guys who are not happy at the particular time, but when they get a chance to look back at the replay or get a consensus from the coaching staff, they have a change of mind.”Some of them who are big enough will come and tell you that they were happy with the decision. The technology can work both ways.”For the forthcoming World Cup in the Caribbean, Doctrove has been assigned to warm-up games in St Vincent and group stage matches in St Lucia. Appointments for the Super Eight stage will be made after the first phase of the tournament.His current contract with ICC expires at the end of March; and he is optimistic that he will be maintained on the elite panel. “I’m hoping that I can get an extension. That will depend entirely on the officials of ICC.”Based on my performances, I have no doubt in my mind that I warrant an extension. I’ll leave it in the hands of the officials. Whatever they decide, I’ll go along with.”

As had been expected for some time now, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were finally ruled out of Pakistan’s World Cup squad, though the decision, farcically, came minutes before the team’s departure to the Caribbean. Asif is down with an elbow injury while Shoaib is nursing a crocked knee.”We have received their medical assessments and the players are physically unfit. Therefore we felt we shouldn’t take them for such a big tournament,” PJ Mir, the team spokesman told Cricinfo. “Their injuries will take time to heal so after selectors consulted Inzamam-ul-Haq the decision has been taken to not take them.”The pair will be replaced by fast bowler Mohammad Sami and allrounder Yasir Arafat. “Sami and Arafat will join the team in the Caribbean in a few days but we have to get clearance for them from the ICC’s technical committee. Their names were decided by the captain and the selection committee together,” Mir added, mindful perhaps of reports today speculating that the decision to name Azhar Mahmood as a replacement for Abdul Razzaq overlooked the selection committee altogether.Though injuries remain the official reasons for their withdrawal it is understood that continuing doping-related concerns clinched the issue. The pair tested positive last year for Nandrolone in internal dope tests conducted just before the Champions Trophy got underway, but their bans were eventually overturned, much to the chagrin of the global cricket community.Fears that traces of Nandrolone remained at unacceptably high levels in their bodies were enhanced as the pair, for varying reasons, avoided undergoing another PCB-conducted dope test, held last week for all members of Pakistan’s World Cup squad. Only last week, an official close to the team had told Cricinfo that neither of the injuries were serious enough and if the pair didn’t go, it would only be “over concerns with the doping issue”, a thought confirmed once again today by an official. There was a threat that if the two tested positive again, either in internal tests or those conducted by the ICC, they would face stringent bans.Shortly before the pair were ruled out, the ICC confirmed they would be target-testing players at the World Cup and Malcolm Speed made specific reference to Shoaib and Asif. “Both Shoaib Ahktar and Mohammed Asif have played for Pakistan over the past few months despite testing positive for prohibited substances last year,” he said.”That is a fact neither player has disputed and it is also a fact that has caused the game a high level of embarrassment as a result. We want to make absolutely sure that all players who take part in the World Cup do so on the basis that they are free from banned substances.”From an ICC perspective, having the option to target test as well as the already-scheduled tests in place means that if a player does have anything in his system then there is a very strong possibility he will be caught out.”Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, however, stressed that Shoaib and Asif’s exclusions were due to injuries and unrelated to the doping issue. “The truth is both of them are injured and they may take even months to make a full recovery,” Ashraf told PTI.”The board’s medical panel will soon check them out but the chances of them recovering quickly from their injuries is very bleak.”Whatever the reasons for their exclusion, the impact of their absence cannot be underestimated; Asif is one of cricket’s most exciting young bowlers and Shoaib one of the game’s fastest. Inzamam acknowledged to reporters that losing the two, and the uncertainty surrounding them, was not the best way of preparing for the tournament. “It is not an ideal situation for us. We are going there under intense pressure. But in the past we have played in such situations with tremendous team spirit and we can achieve best results even without our key players.”Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, preferred to draw strength from good results achieved over the last two years without the two bowlers. “It is a big blow and I feel sorry for both these players. They are missing a mega event.”But last year we did well without Shoaib in Sri Lanka and the year before in India without either of the two bowlers,” he added. “I want to remind the players of those two series and of playing with the same unity and spirit we showed on those tours. If we can replicate that, we can still do well. We also now know at least where we stand and exactly what players we have available.”It now means that Pakistan go into cricket’s premier event without three key components of their team, after Razzaq was also ruled out of the tournament this week with a serious knee injury. Additionally, they will be without allrounder Shahid Afridi – owing to a four-match ban imposed by the ICC for misconduct in South Africa – for their first two games, including a tough opening game on March 13 against the hosts. Preparations for big series or tournaments in Pakistan are often blighted but few in recent memory have been as ravaged by injuries, controversies and scandals as this.

ScorecardRajasthan reached the semifinals after registering a convincing six-wicket victory over Karnataka at Ferozeshah Kotla ground on 21 March 2007. Chasing a modest target of 201, Rajasthan rode on Anshu Jain’s unbeaten knock of 76 to emerge victors in the one-sided contest.Put in to bat, at one stage Karnataka were struggling at 66 for 4. But, an impressive 116-run partnership between seasoned Balachandra Akhil and Sunil Joshi for the eighth wicket rescued the side after a humiliating batting collapse.While Akhil hit a blazing 86 off 73 balls, Joshi batted sensibly for his 40 runs to help Karnataka reach a respectable score of 200.The Rajasthan seamers exploited the early morning moisture to trigger the Karnataka batting collapse. While Afroz Khan took three wickets, Shailender Gehlot and skipper Mohammed Aslam bagged two each.Rajasthan batsmen were hardly troubled during their run chase, which became easier due to the sloppy fielding of Karnataka. Openers Siddarth Joshi (25) and Rohit Sharma (42) laid the foundation with a quick 52-run opening stand.Later, Jain and Rajesh Bishnoi (42) added 93 runs for the fourth wicket to seal win for their team.

Darren Berry, the former Victoria captain, will return to the squad as its assistant coach later this month. Berry has spent the past two seasons guiding the Carlton Cricket Club in Melbourne and he will work alongside the head coach Greg Shipperd.”I’m looking forward to this role immensely, and contributing to the future success of the Bushrangers and Victorian cricket,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities presented to me at Carlton and I thank them for allowing my coaching to develop in my time there.”Geoff Tamblyn, the Cricket Victoria chairman, said Berry has outstanding credentials and has been an impressive leader on and off the field. “He led a strong list of candidates and we’re excited to have him alongside Greg,” he said. “Darren was a tremendous contributor to Victoria as a player and we’re confident he will perform impressively in his new role.” Berry led the Bushrangers to the Pura Cup in 2003-04 and immediately retired after 153 first-class matches.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has decided to bring forward the start of the next domestic season to October to accommodate the Stanford 20/20 tournament. The season could also be extended to make up for the hectic regional and international schedule.According to the WICB’s draft itinerary the Carib Beer Series, West Indies’ first-class competition, will start on October 8 and run simultaneously with the KFC Cup, the limited-overs tournament. The two competitions are expected to close by December and the Stanford 20/20 will be played in January-February 2008. Last season the Carib Beer Series and the KFC Cup were held in January-February.In 2008 West Indies first tour South Africa in January and then play Sri Lanka and Australia at home. Tony Deyal, WICB corporate communications manager, said that the first-class championship was being reviewed as the board was concerned about players not playing enough first-class cricket. “We are looking at options and may have to split the season in two and extend the matches on a home and away basis,” Deyal told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). According to CMC Allen Stanford, the main backer of the Stanford 20/20 tournament, has reportedly offered the WICB up to US$121 million over 10 years for satellite rights for the tournament.

Shaun Tait is confident he will be available for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September, despite having elbow surgery last week. Tait said he should be fit by August “at the latest”.”I have a decent range of movement already,” Tait told . “The physio is pretty impressed so I might be back quicker than expected.” Tait had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow for a soft-tissue niggle that had troubled him for most of the summer and Australia’s initial expectation was that he would be a 50-50 chance of making the trip to South AfricaTait, who has also had shoulder problems in the past, said there was no possibility he would alter his slinging action in an effort to keep him off the sidelines. “Every time I get injured it comes up but I will just keep snubbing it,” he said. “I won’t be changing the action.”Tait suffered a hamstring injury before Christmas, which hurt his chances of playing in Australia’s early CB Series matches in January. However, he was called up for his ODI debut late in the tournament and also went to the World Cup, where he impressed with 23 wickets at 20.3.

Gary Kirsten, the former South African opening batsman, is in Zimbabwe for a week-long coaching clinic with the Zimbabwe national team.On Tuesday he presented a powerful seminar on his own high-performance model, which he bases on his own personal experiences as a former top international.Kirsten, who currently runs a cricket academy in Cape Town will conduct further batting sessions with the Zimbabwean squad for the remainder of the week before returning to South Africa this weekend.He said of the current crop of Zimbabwe players “There are lots of players with talent – absolutely! There are guys who hit the ball well. It is what the guys are prepared to do to become great players that makes the difference.”Kirsten’s visit is a huge boost for the young Zimbabweans considering they take on South Africa in August.

Yorkshire have released opening batsman Matthew Wood, who hasn’t managed a Championship match this season. Wood, 30, made his debut in 1997 but lost his place to Joe Sayers and has been stuck in the second team.”Matthew has given outstanding service to Yorkshire and has always been thoroughly professional in his approach to the game,” said Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive. “We greatly appreciate his efforts for the club over the past decade and wish him every success in the future.”He added that it had been a difficult decision to take, but one which the player had accepted. Yorkshire are now circulating other counties to inform them of Wood’s availability and the hope is that he will be able to continue his first class career elsewhere.Wood leaves Yorkshire with 6840 runs at 33.52 in first-class cricket and 3271 runs at 27 in one-day matches.